Luckily, most HDTV sets nowadays have more connections than the average consumer will ever use. The backs and sides of these devices are honeycombed with multi-colored ports and slots, running the gamut from the venerable RF coaxial port to the newer HDMI / DVI slots. You probably won’t need to make a choice about what sort of connections you want: just how many of each port you need to accommodate your existing and future gear.

Here’s a quick run-down of the types of ports you can find on most HDTV sets.

HDMI — HDMI, or the High-Definition Media Interface, is the current and future standard of digital connectors, and essentially fulfills the same function of all the old analogue connectors, including RF coaxial, composite video, S-Video, SCART and VGA. Offering fast transmission of uncompressed digital data in a virtually unlimited spectrum of resolutions, bit rates and channels, almost all newer devices such as Blu-Ray plays, video game consoles, DVR boxes, and even laptops and personal computers now support HDMI. You want as many HDMI ports as possible on your HDTV.

RGB Inputs (Component inputs) — Eponymously coming in shades of red, green and blue, this triumvirate of connectors are again used by many older devices to bring video and audio to your display. The Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 2 both output using RGB cables, as well as numerous cameras and camcorders. Your HDTV should have at least one set of RGB ports.

RF Coaxial — This connection is useful for hooking up a television antenna.

S-Video or SCART— If you want to hook up an old VCR, DVD player or video console to your new HDTV, you should double check that your new set has an S-Video In port, or a SCART port for Europeans.

VGA Monitor — While most modern computers support HDMI, if you want to hook your HDTV up to your old laptop or computer — say, to show some relatives some pictures, or to use as a home-theater PC — you will need to make sure your HDTV comes with a VGA Monitor port.

Analog Stereo Audio Inputs (Composite inputs) — For integrating your older stereo system into your home theater set-up, you’ll need to use these red and white ports. Again, newer stereo and surround sound set-ups offer HDMI support, but it never hurts to have ancillary analog support.

We recommend that you make sure your HDTV has enough ports to integrate with your existing home theater equipment, regardless of what type of connection it uses. For future use, the more HDMI ports you have, the better. If you’re ever likely to hook up an old VCR to your HDTV and watch old movies, make sure it at least has an S-Video in.